God
has plans for us. Jesus said so. When He said, “You are salt;” and “You are
light,” Jesus was telling us that we are created to do good things. To change the flavor of life, like salt does. To provide light in the darkness, like even a
small candle can do.
Salt
enhances the flavors of the food we eat.
For those of us who like garlic, for example, we need to use salt to bring
out the full flavor of the garlic. We
salt the water when we make potatoes or pasta or rice to bring out natural
flavors.
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| A peaceful place in my office |
A
single candle can illuminate a small space and, in certain circumstances, can be
seen from as far away as 1.6 miles. When
we flip on a light switch, we count on that light to guide our way down a
hallway or to brighten a room.
Salt
and light make our lives better. And
Jesus said we are both salt and light.
We are designed to bring our salt and light: our gifts and talents, into
the world in which we live to make a difference in the world.
And
being salt and light is pretty great.
Bringing what we are and who we are into all our relationships, from our
beloved ones, to the people we meet along the Way, to our relationship with God
is what we are meant to do and be.
The
thing is, we might not always recognize what it means to be salt and light and
we might not know how to be who we are meant to be.
Today’s
Gospel immediately follows the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is speaking to a crowd of sick and
afflicted people and their caregivers, from a hilltop, and has given them the
Beatitudes. That list of “blessed are they.” They who are poor in spirit, who mourn;
the meek, hungry, and merciful; the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those
who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
And don’t forget, they who are reviled and persecuted because they speak
the Word of God.
People
who have complicated lives will know God differently than those who don’t have
complicated lives. People who have done to
others the things that cause the complicated lives of others. Bad things that people who have rejected
their salt or their light might do because they do not know God, God’s law, or
God’s love for them. People who do not
know how to love.
And now,
in the next breath, Jesus tells these same people that they are salt and
light. Sent into the world to make a
difference. To follow the Law of Moses,
the Commandments, to teach others how to love God and love neighbor.
Many
of these people would be familiar with behaviors that identify their love for
God and would know what behaviors are appropriate to show love to their
neighbor. They would be familiar with
the prophetic words from Isaiah, words we heard earlier this morning.
Words
that could be quickly summed up by the prophet, Micah:
He
has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with
your God?
(Micah 6:8)
Last Sunday the choir sang “We are Called” by David
Haas. A song that reminds us that these
expectations are exactly what God has planned for God’s people.
The refrain is this: “We are called to act with
justice. We are called to love
tenderly. We are called to serve one
another. To walk, humbly with God.”
In today’s readings we read more about what it
means to do and be all these things. In
Isaiah, we are reminded that we are to speak up when injustice reigns. To “shout out” and point out the rebellion against
God as Isaiah described as the pretend piety of fasting.
To help folks out, Isaiah tells us what fasting
is. It is interpreted this way in The Message:
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains
of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed,
cancel debts. What I’m
interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food
with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on
the shivering ill-clad, being available to
your own families. …
“If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go."
“If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go."
It
seems quite clear what it means to behave as believers. Our Psalmist puts a fine point on it when he
says the people who worship God are so kind, merciful and good. They freely lend, are honest in business, are dependable, not
afraid, kind and freely gave to the poor
(excerpts
from Psalm 112 Contemporary English Version).
Because we are salt and light, because we are
each blessed by God, we have the tools necessary to behave like Isaiah and the
Psalmist describe. Our salty and lighted
lives are blessed and because we recognize our blessedness, we can then respond
according to God’s expectations.
Jesus said we are salt
and light. Not that we can become
salt and light if we behave a certain way.
But Jesus goes on to say that as salt and light we will season and
lighten the world when we fulfil the law.
I found this quote from the SALT Project’s blog a helpful way to look at
it:
“Jesus
does not say, ‘Follow these instructions and you’ll be blessed.’ Rather, he says, ‘You are already
blessed with gifts for blessing the world
– so go and bless! Spice and shine!
And here are some instructions for how best to do that…’” [1]
– so go and bless! Spice and shine!
And here are some instructions for how best to do that…’” [1]
That means, we are all given
certain gifts by God. Gifts that are
unique to each of us. Salt and
light. And because we have these gifts,
we are expected to use them to the Glory of God. But sometimes it can be hard to know what that
means. Thankfully, we have great
examples provided to us throughout scripture, like the lessons for today, that
help us know what to do and how to be.
When
we recognize how we are blessed, that we are blessed, it is much easier to
behave as a blessing. To shower God’s
love to the world. To experience God’s
love in the world.
Let us pray:
Gracious
God, you sent prophets into this world to teach your people how to behave in
ways that show your love to all creation.
You gave us laws that keep us grounded in you. Help us to use our salt and our light to do
and be like Jesus. Help us remember that
it is in your blessing on each of us that guide us as we go into the world to
bless others in your name, living out the blueprints, the instructions, we received
in the words we heard today from Isaiah, Micah, Matthew and in the Psalm. Let our lights shine bright and our salt flow
freely. Amen.